March 8, 2012

“Imagine meeting my heart-breaker after six long years. And what do you know? He turns out to be my bf’s bestie. It’s a small world after all,” Pritha chuckled impishly.

“Look, Pritha, I know I am six years too late in saying this,” Rohit started apologetically, “ but I am really, really sorry for the way I had treated you back then. I was such an insensitive pig then. Gawwd!!! I know it would be too much to ask you for forgiveness now...But please do know that I genuinely regret...”

“Oh, hang all that bull-shit,” Pritha waved her hand dismissively, the smile still sitting on her lips. “I have moved on. Plus, life has been good to me ever since you left. What do you think, huh?”She asked playfully, gesturing to her shapely bod. ”I didn’t turn out to be so bad now, did I?”

Rohit didn’t reply.

“I dropped sixteen kilos since then,” her eyes gleamed with a hint of pride. “I hit the gym with a vengeance. Badminton and rowing followed. I’ve come a long way from the triple-X L sized tops you used to fidget over whenever we went out together.”

She paused and then finished with a malicious relish,”I hope you will agree, won’t you?”

“You are really enjoying rubbing it in, aren’t you?” Rohit replied after a momentary silence. Not that he blamed her for it. He had broken up with her just because she had been, in his own words to his friends, “a pea-sized brain in an oversized chassis”. Though he had never spelled it out to her, he knew that she had realized full well that her anatomy was the major reason he had wanted to split up. She had been stupid and dumb. A more discerning girl would have seen straightaway that he never did actually love her. But not she. She trusted him blindly.

And he strangled that trust, butchered her faith and made a mockery of her adoration.

And now six year later, his ex-gf, Simran had done the same to him. She had thrown her morals to the wind and gone ahead and kissed another guy. Life had come back full circle. To punish him for his shallowness and cruelty.

Poetic justice?

“Who me?” Pritha touched her breast lightly, feigning surprise at Rohit’s accusation.”Perish that thought. Look, I will tell you something.” Her tone suddenly assumed a sombre timbre. “You are important to Vishal. And he must have told you, so am I. So for his sake, let bygones be bygones. He doesn’t need to know what happened between us. And anyway, the whole thing happened so long ago. I had even forgotten how you looked like. Let’s just pretend to be friends, right?”

Rohit had been avoiding Pritha’s eyes for so long, but now his eyes met hers; for a moment her eyes seemed to sparkle, as if searching for something in his gaze. He could swear she kept on looking at him even after he had turned his gaze away from her.

“Catching up on old times, eh?” Vishal’s voice startled them both, as he approached them from a distance, with popcorn and soft drinks in his hands. They were at the movies, and Vishal had left his best-friend and girlfriend to buy some snacks and beverages.

“Yeah,” his girlfriend crooned mischievously.”Just catching up on old times.” She flashed a wide grin at Vishal and then winked imperceptibly at Rohit.

Rohit realized that Pritha would drop in often at Vishal’s place, where he had decided to lodge temporarily. He was already starting to have second thoughts about moving in with Vishal.

But to his surprise, over the next few weeks, the three of them bonded quite well over dinners, movies and long drives. Rohit had been awkward in the beginning, but Pritha’s infectious amiability gradually disarmed him. She was genuinely trying to be warm and friendly. That, coupled with the elation in Vishal’s face. Rohit didn’t want to spoil his friend’s happiness in any way. Vishal was profoundly in love with this girl and he found himself wishing fervently that nothing untoward happened to botch up his blissful gaiety in any fashion.

Wishful thinking.

One night, Rohit was awoken by a warm body climbing under the covers. It was a woman's body. He felt a pair of warm hands caress his just shaven cheeks.

"Pritha?!"

"Shh," she said, and sucked his upper lip into her mouth.

Rohit pulled loose. "But what about Vishal?"

"He's gone out," she said.

"Did you and he...?"

"No," she said with a contempt that surprised him.

Over the past couple of weeks, the two of them had hit it off beautifully. Old embers of a past flame were being ignited and rekindled. During college, they had liked the same things and that aspect of their personalities hadn’t changed much over time. That night, they had flocked to a night club and danced together for so long that Rohit felt sure Vishal was growing uncomfortable seeing his gf and his best friend so close. She had made a pass at him at the night club, and he'd pretended not to notice. But it was harder not to notice her when she was in his bed, in his nostrils, in his mouth. Sure, she'd had a few drinks, but alcohol has never caused anyone to do something they didn't want to. It only enables them to do what they've always wanted but repressed. And right now it looked like Pritha wanted to be with a man who had broken up with her six years ago.

“I never ever forgot you,” she said, nibbling his lips.”You were always there. All those hours in the gym and badminton court, I ruthlessly punished my body because you rejected it.”

Logically, it's easy to say that it's wrong to sleep with a girl your friend is pursuing. But when her body is pressed against yours so submissively, and you can smell the conditioner in her hair (strawberry), and that storm cloud of passion created by her desire has begun gathering around the two of you, try saying no. It's just too ... right there.

Rohit ran his hands beneath her hair and slowly dragged his fingernails up-ward along her scalp. A shiver of pleasure ran through her body. Their lips met, their tongues met, their chests met.

He couldn't do this. "I can't do this."

"Why?"

"Because of Vishal. He loves you."

"Vishal?" she asked, as if she'd never heard the name before. "He's sweet, and it helps that he is rich. But love? We have just been going out for a couple of months now. He is more of a friend to me."

In those six years, she seemed to have shed her morals along with her sixteen kilos of flesh.

"Listen," Rohit said. "You should go. Vishal will probably be back soon."

“Shh,” she said again as she moved up the last half inch so their lips could touch. Softly. Lovingly. To Rohit, it seemed as if she breathed her soul and her love into him in that kiss. That kiss; hard, but soft; fiery but cool; a split second but also forever. In that one kiss, he knew what it was like to give into sin.

“What the fuck?!!!!” Vishal’s scream tore them out of their embrace. He was standing in the doorway, eyes wide in terror and shock at what had just unfolded before his eyes.

Pritha, seemingly unperturbed, leaned in once more and whispered wickedly in Rohit’s ears, “Best of luck saving your friendship.”

Suddenly it dawned on him what she had been doing to him and Vishal all along. She loathed him venomously for dumping her. And in order to get back at him, she had used Vishal as an unwitting pawn in her game of deceit and betrayal.

A minute later, Rohit heard Vishal and Pritha arguing in the hallway. Five minutes later, a door slammed.

Vishal walked wearily into the room and collapsed onto Rohit’s bed.

"Well?" Rohit asked hesitatingly. Vishal was never one to show much emotion.

“I want you out of my house before I wake up tomorrow, do you hear?” He stated with an air of finality which sent a chill of loss running through Rohit’s spine.

Their friendship was over. Rohit wondered if he should try and explain the truth. But he knew Vishal would never believe him.

The next morning, Rohit was back in his old flat. Back with his old memories of Simran. Simran loved to write and she used to maintain a blog. Very few people read her, but he used to follow religiously every syllable she uttered in that space. He noticed she had put up just one blog after he had stopped talking to her six weeks back. He began to read it.

“It wasn’t his words...it was his silence. All of a sudden she had to make an attempt to breathe. He was scarred. She hated herself for being the reason...for being the vile mottle on the painting that was so vibrant and beautiful. The painting may not lose the beauty of the painter’s imagination...but the blotch will never go unnoticed.

She, like a lone cloud, wafted past the moon. Her moon of calm and love. The silver light of her life. She had to move away...for the moon to shine bright. To let it glow in its own existence. Darkness is blinding. Darkness makes way for no path. She walked in his light...but no more.

She saw his jaw tightening and his eyes pouring into hers. Deceived and hurt. He turned his back and strode away. She stood there looking at him go. She felt hollow inside... but her body felt heavy...Cloud of strange feelings surrounded her. .but the space around her was void. “

Rohit felt his senses growing dull and his breathing getting heavier as he reached the end of that post. He quickly opened his Gmail Inbox to check if Simran had sent him any mail. Sure enough, she had sent several. Rohit clicked on the topmost one. It was sent just yesterday.

“Dear R,
I now know that you will probably never, ever want to see my face again. I hurt you deeply and I am sorry. I truly am. You meant so much to me. You mean so much to me. Every morning, I wake up to need you again. I will need you like this every day. I will need you till forever.
I wanted to explain this face to face, but since that is never going to happen, I want to tell you why I did what I did to hurt you so much. Prasad had been my childhood crush. I remember him being the first ever guy I thought I was in love with. But he fell for another one of my classmates, Sheetal. Throughout school, he was the only guy I could imagine myself being with. And seeing him and Sheetal so happy together made me immensely jealous.
He truly loved her. As much as you loved me. He came down recently to Pune. We met up and he told me that Sheetal had just broken off their twelve year long relationship. He was shattered and was in pain. I just wanted to hug him and tell him everything was going to be all right, that he would find someone better, and well-one thing led to another and he ended up kissing me. I know I should have left that instant. But I couldn’t pull away. I gave in.
I could have chosen not to tell you anything about the kiss. But I needed you to know. I knew I might lose you although I desperately need you. But it is ok. You deserve to know. This is the real me. A girl who might give into her temptations and who hates herself for it later.
Good bye, R. God bless! I still love you the same way.”

It was raining again that day. Simran unlocked the door to her flat, getting rid of her raincoat which was all drenched and soaking wet. But she wasn’t prepared for what she saw immediately on entering her living room. Rohit was sitting on her drawing room sofa, with a quirky smile on his face. She had completely forgotten that he had a set of spare keys to her apartment.

She tip-toed to him softly. And they sat cuddling in the corner of her dully lit room, the windows almost bursting at the seams with the heavy pounding of heaven’s tears. A nostalgic feeling had indulged itself onto both of them; giving a feeling that this should have been for a long time. His arms were tightly wrapped around her shoulders, hers, clinging to his hard muscular chest, and her head on his shoulder. Basking in each other’s ambience, creating each other’s warmth. He looked down at her, his eyes dulled by the darkness of the room. He gave that quirky smile, that one he knew that she had loved from a long time ago; it gave her the feeling as if he knew something that she didn’t. Caressing her supple cheek, he lifted her chin; their noses almost touching. She could feel the warmth of his breath brushing the top of her lip. He looked into her eyes and felt as if he was standing alone at the edge of the world, on a wind-swept ocean beach.

“I love you,” his whisper poured softly into her waiting ears.

**The End**

P.S. And so ends my story which began here and continued here. Don't worry. I have tried to write in such a way that you really don't need to read the earlier parts in order to enjoy this story.:-) A small part of this story...the blog part..was written by a special friend of mine. And I dedicate this story to her. To all those, who read this story, a big thank you.:-) You guys really made my day.....Happy Holi to all of you